Mr Monk's Millions
by FanWriterWV
Summary: Adrian wins the lottery. What happens when he has several hundred million things to worry about instead of just several hundred? And there's a killer on the loose, too. Slightly revised.


_**MR. MONK'S MILLIONS**_

"Natalie, I don't think this is such a good idea," Adrian Monk said as she dragged him to the couch and turned on the T.V.

"Oh, come on-it'll be fun. Besides, you know you'll worry about it if you don't watch, right?"

Monk sighed. Natalie had gotten him to buy his first Lotto ticket on the day the jackpot reached a historic 500 million dollars. The store where he'd gotten it had been a madhouse as people lined up to buy what they hoped would be the winning ticket.

"OK, it's on!" Natalie sat down next to Adrian as he reluctantly watched the numbers come up. As each one did he seemed to get more and more depressed, while it was Natalie who watched in disbelief as the final number appeared on the screen.

"And that's tonight's winning number, ladies and gentlemen," the announcer was saying. Somebody out there has just won part of a record five hundred million dollar jackpot."

"Adrian?" Natalie looked at Monk as he buried his head in his hands. "Mr. Monk…you, you-you won!"

Monk nearly had tears in his eyes as he looked at the TV screen and compared the numbers with those on his ticket. "Oh, no," he whispered. "No, no, no, this has to be some sort of mistake…this can't be happening…"

"Adrian, what's the matter? You just became one of the richest people in San Francisco!'

Adrian groaned. "I know. But all that money…now I'm going to have to count it!"

_CAPTAIN STOTTLEMEYER'S OFFICE_

Adrian grinned weakly as everyone cheered and Natalie stopped them from slapping Monk on the back or hugging him.

"Congratulations, Adrian, if anyone deserves to hit the jackpot it's you," Randy Disher gushed.

"Adrian Monk a multimillionaire," Leland shook his head. "I never would have believed it."

"Well, I still can't." Adrian shook his head. His brother Ambrose had kindly offered to help him figure out exactly how much he had while his upstairs neighbor Kevin kept trying to offer him "Advice" on how to spend it. "I need to sit down."

"Sure, Adrian, we can use my office." Monk wearily nodded and sat down in one of the extra office chairs while Leland closed the door.

"People from the media have been calling all day," Leland said as he sat down behind his desk. "They want you to give some sort of a statement along with the other three winners."

"Who are the other winners, anyway?" Adrian was curious in spit of himself.

"Let's see…a housewife who just got divorced, a college kid going to U.C. Berkeley, and a retired fireman from Alameda." Leland smiled. "That's going to be quite a sight, the three of them and you on T.V."

"You know I hate press conferences," Monk protested. "All that commotion and…touching…"

Before Leland could respond, Disher entered the room. His mood had changed from celebratory to serious. "I think you guys had better come and see this."

The rest of the squad room had its attention focused on a news broadcast. "To update you on the latest developments, retired fireman Joe Brady of Alameda was found dead in his home just a short while ago." The screen showed the outside of a modest suburban home. "Mr. Brady, who lived alone, apparently died from asphyxiation in his living room. Local police are not releasing any details but his death has been blamed on a gas leak."

"Now that's what I call one heck of a coincidence," Randy commented, but Adrian was looking at the T.V., which was showing Mr. Brady's body being carried out on a stretcher.

"What is it, Adrian?" Natalie asked.

"I don't think this was an accident or a coincidence." Monk looked carefully at the screen. "I think Mr. Brady has just been murdered."

_CAPTAIN STOTTLEMEYER'S OFFICE_

"OK, we're alone." Leland shut the door after everyone else except for the four of them-Adrian, Natalie, Randy and Leland himself-had been ordered to leave. "Now, Adrian, what makes you think it was a murder?"

"This was one of the biggest lottery payoffs in history." Adrian raised his hands as he began to mentally recreate the crime scene from what he'd been able to see on T.V. "Leland, I know it's out of your jurisdiction, but I think we should get up to Alameda and take a look for ourselves."

"If Adrian's right we should also warn the other winners that somebody's out to get them," Randy added.

"You're right, this does seem like one hell of a coincidence…all right, I'll put in a call to the Alameda police department and offer my 'Assistance.' You can come along as an observer."

On the way to Mr. Brady's house in Natalie's car, Monk asked, "Natalie, what was it like, growing up with a rich family?"

"Well, you get a sense early on that you're different from other people. I guess that's why I got into so much trouble when I was younger; I wanted to show the rest of the world that we weren't."

"Would you mind having a wealthy boss?" Adrian looked out the window. "You know, it's not the money I mind so much…it's just there would be so much of it. How would I ever be able to figure out what to do with all of it? Sometimes I think I was lucky; Mom never had much money after Dad left but that never stopped her from trying to take care of Ambrose and me as best as she could."

"You're a good person, Adrian. You're not greedy; you wouldn't blow it all on gambling like I would have…you'd be the most honest multi-millionaire I've ever known."

When they got to the house Leland waved them inside. There were markers on the floor to show where Mr. Brady's body had been in the living room.

"The gas has been shut off," Leland explained. "The medical examiner said Brady was asleep when it happened."

Adrian moved his hands slowly over the floor and then the gas valve. "Do we know what time it happened?"

"Around eight thirty this morning." Leland checked his watch. "That was about seven hours ago."

"But the winning numbers were broadcast at noon." Monk stared down at the markers. "The killer would had to have known what the numbers were beforehand. How could he have if Mr. Brady didn't?"

"Maybe the killer knew somebody in the Lottery Commission who knew what the winning numbers were?" Natalie suggested.

But Monk shook his head. "No, the numbers are generated at random by a computer. There was no possible way the killer could have known what they were…unless…"

"Yeah, Monk-you got something?" Leland raised his eyebrows.

"I don't know. Maybe…" Adrian looked at him. "Didn't you say that one of the winners was a college student?"

"Yeah, a 19-year-old named Arthur Doyle."

Monk nodded. "I think we'd better find Mr. Doyle-and what he was majoring in. If I'm right, he's our killer."

"But why would a lottery winner want to kill other winners?" Natalie asked as they drove back to Leland's squad room.

"I've been thinking about that." Adrian paused. "OK-here's what happened: Arthur Doyle is a freshman going to Berkeley. Along with its liberal politics, the school is known for its development of computer science. Let's assume that Mr. Doyle was studying computer programming. He would have needed a strong background in mathematics and probability. Let's also assume that Mr. Doyle figured out what the numbers would be ahead of time, by using some sort of a randomized calculation. When he found out he was right, he didn't ant to have to share with the others, so he comes up with a plan to murder all of them-including me-and make our deaths look like accidents."

"Like Mr. Brady accidentally turning the gas on and falling asleep."

"Exactly. He probably planned to do the murders over a period of weeks or even months and then break into our bank accounts-again using his computer skills-to take the rest of the money for himself."

"But he still would have won a hundred and fifty million dollars," Natalie objected. "Why risk going to prison for the rest?"

"He probably felt like he deserved it since he figured out the winning numbers first," Adrian replied. "We can ask him-once he's brought in."

_CAPTAIN STOTTLEMEYER'S OFFICE_

The dejected young man didn't look like a potential killer-more like a kid who'd been caught joyriding in his parents' car without permission. Adrian had been right-it had all been about the kid wanting to prove why he should have gotten all the money. It takes all kinds to make a case, Leland thought as Doyle was cuffed and taken into custody.

"Well, so much for _that _get-rich-quick scheme." Leland shook his head. "OK, Adrian-are you ready to meet your public?" He waved towards the crowd of reporters who were waiting outside the squad room.

Monk sighed. "Let's get this over with."

"…And that's basically how it happened," Adrian said, blinking uncomfortably as camera lenses pointed at him. "As for my share of the winnings, I'm using some of it to pay some bills; part of it to buy a few things…maybe some more nice matching suits…and the rest I'm using for the Trudy Anne Ellison Memorial Trust Fund, which will go towards paying for the education of the children of police officers who have been killed in the line of duty." This last announcement was greeted with a round of applause.

"The Trudy Memorial Trust Fund? That's a wonderful gesture, Adrian, I'm sure Trudy would have been very proud."

"Yeah, I know…" Adrian smiled sadly, and then added; "Now I just have to figure out how many matching suits I want to buy. And shirts…and shoes…maybe some umbrellas…"

Natalie laughed. "That's what I love about you, Mr. Monk-nothing will ever change who you are!"

THE END


End file.
